Star Wars: The Clone Wars- Season One (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

The new cartoon series starts running at 9 PM tonight. If you have a life

, it also reruns on Sunday at 9 PM and will be on iTunes.

 

[Joe_H]

Maybe I'm mistaken, but didn't they already do this on Cartoon Network a few years ago?

 

[TravisR]

^ That was a traditionally animated mini-series of shorts but this new one is a 30 minute CG animated TV series.

 

[Joe_H]

Aah okay. Its not really my thing anyway, but I'd seen commercials and this post and was confused, thanks.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

If I understand correctly, this series is supposed to "replace" the previous one. (I.e., it's not a continuation or a prequel.)

 

[Greg_S_H]

I don't think it replaces it. Those stories still happened. The style and creative team are completely new, with this being more "realistic" than the original Clone Wars.

I've only seen the first episode so far, but it was a great Yoda showcase. Every aspect was on display, from his fitness as an officer (protecting the crew of his ship while carrying out his mission) to his badassness in battle. His scenes with the clones were great, including a "Yoda on Dagobah" moment that had his men doubting him for a bit. Then, his insistence on humanizing the clones and making them realize they are unique individuals. Good stuff.

Loved the bit where Ventress asked the droid hologram where Yoda was, only to have hologram Yoda decapitate it. Also, Yoda comes along an absolutely serves Ventress!

People who hate the droids will hate a lot of this. They are the source of much of the comedy, and the "roger, rogers" are flying!

The end of the first episode cut off, but it was on my recording of the second episode. I hope the second episode's ending doesn't cut off.

Any word on when new episodes will air? I don't see anything on my DVR's future schedule. Also, if you have Cartoon Network HD, was this broadcast in true HD? It looked alright zoomed in standard, but I wish my cable company would pick up this channel. I think they did in the neighboring city, which doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Dave Mack]

I gotta say it was better than I was expecting.
Had no problem with the "look" of the characters and thought the tech stuff looked great.
The only thing I really think they should do is tone down the slapstick and Three stooges'ness of the droid army. I know the prequels had this but this was just overkill. It's hard to feel any sense of tension or suspense when they are shown to be such buffoons. I know it's a kid's show but they should really dial that back IMHO. The scenes where the droids were ripping the windows off the escape pods, (causing S P O I L E R) was genuinely creepy. If they showed a bit more of that side even with a bit of the goofy one liners I think it would be an ok balance. Of course I would prefer them to eliminate all the cutesy lines but we know that won't happen.
All in all I actually am looking forward to seeing more eps.

 

[Steve Berger]

Reports on other forums indicated that it was in HD (where available )

They announced at the end of the second episode that there would be a new episode next Friday in the same time slot (half hour episode) but many/most of the EPGs don't have it listed yet.

 

[Greg_S_H]

As expected, the second episode got cut off. Right when Anakin invited Ahsoka to the council meeting. I guess I'll record it on Sunday to see if I missed anything. I'll have to add a minute to the recording and hope it doesn't conflict with anything else I need to record by doing so. I already have to manually record Sanctuary (providing I like the pilot when I watch it later) because the DVR is too dumb to record at another time, and I have two programs going during the first run.

 

[Chris Atkins]

Enjoyed the first episode (still have to watch the second). Looked great in HD. Yoda had some good character moments. Agree with Dave on the droid humor...it was over the top. In fact, the battle droids in the first ep had way more intelligence than they did in the PT.

 

[Sam Favate]

I enjoyed the first two episodes; thought they were better than the feature back in August (which I also liked). I liked most that the episodes take a few minutes to let the characters speak to each other, not just push buttons, fly planes and shoot weapons. The best parts were Yoda speaking to the clones in the cave and Plo Koon (sp?) having some quieter moments with his team.

I suspect this will be an anthology show, without a clear narrative running through the series, which is fine. It's been a long time since we've seen a show like that and Star Wars has always had such a narrative.

The computer effects work is top notch, too.

 

[TravisR]

I thought it was really good. And I like that they'll have more time to focus on minor characters rather than always being on Anakin, Obi-Wan or Yoda every week.

I loved the goofy Battle Droids. I'll freely admit that they're silly but I still find them funny. My favorite line was when Yoda pulled a Battle Droid inside from the turret and it said "But... I... just... got... promoted!"

 

[James_S]

I watched it with my 8 year old son and we had a good time.

I have to agree with TravisR, We like the silliness of the Droids.

 

[Greg_S_H]

And the Super Battle Droid pleading, "But, I'm on your side!" as he blasted his pals. Heh.

 

[Chris Atkins]

But I would argue that it removes dramatic tension from the scene and is also incredibly inconsistent with the way the battle droids are portrayed in TPM and AOTC.

Just to be clear, this is a nit for me, not a major issue.

 

[Greg_S_H]

The only really formidable droids were the spinners, which were kept formidable here, so it doesn't bother me. Besides, the Supers threatened Anakin and Obi-Wan in the arena, but they're nothing to Yoda.

 

[Brent M]

Didn't see the CW movie(which was apparently a good move on my part), but so far the TV show seems like a fun time........and it looks great in HD. My DVR is definitely set for a season pass on this one.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Nah. If you're enjoying this, you would have enjoyed that. I doubt if anyone who hated it is saying, "Man, but this is great."

It's weird how three episodes in a row have Malevolence in the title. For a minute, I thought next week's episode was going to be a repeat.

 

[Chris Atkins]

Episode 2 was even better. So far I am impressed, and will definitely be watching on a weekly basis.

The tone of this show definitely seems in line with ROTS, which is a good thing, IMHO.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I couldn't believe it, but I actually missed the Clone Wars movie over the summer...blink and it's gone, I guess. I didn't exactly have high hopes for the film and thought the trailers looked alright (or rather, that they looked great visually but didn't seem striking in any way from a storytelling point of view). But I still intended to give the series a try, so I recorded them on Friday (had similar DVR frustrations with the last minute being cut off, so at least we're not alone in that). I was more or less expecting a kids show that equaled the worst parts of the prequel trilogy...obviously I didn't have the bar set that high, and this is coming from someone who rather liked the prequels.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this show. I loved how the first episode told what was essentially a little story, just allowing us to see a day in the life of Yoda circa the clone wars. Simple premise, they didn't try to do too much with it or attach a great significance to anything, just a great little window in on that world. The kind of detail that's fascinating and enjoyable backstory but wouldn't fit into a full-length film or would make a feature tedious.

If these first two episodes are an indication of what the rest of this show is going to be like, count me in.